Central Victoria will next month play host to what the nation's peak hay and silage body is calling Fodderganza.
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The three day focus on fodder will kick off with the annual Fodder Festival, at the Elmore Field Days site, before moving to Bendigo for the two-day Australian Fodder Industry Association national conference.
At Elmore, AFIA chief executive Paula Fitzgerald, said all the major machinery providers would put their latest machines to the test in the paddock, harvesting annual ryegrass.
She said senior representatives of dealers would be on hand to answer any questions farmers might have about the machines.
'We've got the people who brought these machines into the country and are putting them in the paddock," she said.
The two-day conference, in Bendigo, would cover the very broad theme of "futureproofing fodder."
That would cover such topics as a low-carbon future for the sector and an update on the national hay agronomy program, she said.
"That has been a four year program that has concluded and restarted in a different way," Ms Fitzgerald said.
"Because of COVID and other things the audience is probably not as informed about this program as it should be, yet it's a critical project in terms of underpinning some of our understanding the role of hay on farms."
There would also be an American speaker, talking about production challenges and opportunities.
"It will be interesting for him to present an American perspective," she said.
The conference will also discuss a fodder stocktake.
"Fodder, to me, seems to be very sexy when there is a drought or a flood, but then interest goes away," she said.
During drought, a number of initiatives - such as using satellites to map fodder supplies and track their movement - were raised but then seemed to fall out of the public eye, she said
"If we had a stocktake that could actually tell you were all the fodder was at any particular time, does the industry see that as a positive or a negative?," she said.
Anyone who was producing hay or silage should think of coming to Elmore.
"I think it's a great day out, to see those machines in action, to be able to compare apples with pears, to talk to the people responsible for them and to get a look at what's coming," she said.
"We want the fodder conference to help producers hear from their customers, to see what we need to do to meet their needs."
The three-day event will kick off with the 2023 Fodder Festival at the Elmore Field Days site on Tuesday August, 15.
The conference will run, in Bendigo, on Wednesday, August 16 and Thursday, August 17.
Andrew Miller
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
I'm a general reporter with Stock & Land, with a special interest in irrigation issues. I completed my cadetship, with the Age, in 1980. Over my career, I've worked for ABC radio news (Mt Isa, Qld) and at provincial and suburban newspapers.
